After making our way back down to the Last City, we stopped at a nice outdoor restaurant and placed our orders. Other Guardians were there, supposedly with their 'significant other' as the gently sounds of music floated in the air. Sri ordered a glass of fine wine and sipped on it gently. I went for water. Charles floated by my shoulder, bored. "Can I go anyw...?" "No." I said quickly. "Come on! Please! I will pester you until you do!" "Do your worst." He grumbled a bit and looked at Sri. His core slanted slightly in an evil fashion. "Your forcing my hand Josiah, I will have to show things yoh dont want to see." "There is next to nothing you can do to crack me." "Who said it was you?" I paused and looked at him. "You better not." He snickered as he turned to Sri. She gave an unamussed glance. "Do you want to go?" She said. Charles blinked. "That would be nice." Sri nodded and pulled up Alfred. "Watch Charles." "What?! I don't need a Ghostsitter!!" Alfred looked pretty upset about this. "Please don't make me..." "Alfred." Sri gave a serious look. Alfred sighed and floated away, dragging Charles in tow. "Yes ma'am...." "Come on! This isn't fair!" Charles said. "I will be back dang it!" I watched them leave. "That was a bit harsh..." "For Charles?" "No for Alfred... I feel sorry for him." She gave a small laugh. "Yea I'll compensate for that later." I nodded. We sat in quiet regard for a bit. The gentle music gave the setting a gentle romantic mood, the evening sun barely made it past the wall as the sky was bathed in an orange hue, and the noise was rather quiet thanks to special shielding around the area. Sri watched the wine in her glass swirl as she gently spun the glass. She still had her usual neutral beginnings of a frown and her eyes were somewhat blank in emotion, but they also sparked a bit of sadness as well. I sat perfectly still and thought. Choosing was never my strong suit and picking someone over another, especially when relationships were on the line was even harder. Sri definitely was very attractive and well worth the effort to keep as an ally and companion, but her prone to emotional outburst gave her a bit of a flaw. Picking wrong could potentially ruin someone in a very bad way and he did not want to see it happen. "Josiah? Josiah." Sri said. "Huh? What?" I was snapped back to reality as I looked at Sri. "You seem distracted..." "Yea... ah... just worried is.. all..." "Is that what you are worried about? Alfred can handle it." I shook my head. "You better be right..." "And you say I'm the irrational one." She smiled at me. I gave a small smile. "Well Charles can be a bit over welling so I just have to be cautious." "You have a point there. As long as he doesn't break into someone's house he should be fine." "Or get into a gambling match again." She smiled and watched me. I tended to look around and glance at her occasionally. "Your shy when it comes to girls aren't you?" I blinked. "Well... people in general would be a more appropriate word." "Really? You don't have a problem with Laurentine or Rex." "Laurentine minds his own business and is naturally and introvert like me so we get along. Rex and I have a mutual agreement of companionship." She nodded slowly. "Well what about me?" I paused. "Ah... well... You are a very intelligent person, tactical and smart about your plans though they tend to bend from the normal defense strategy but that can be a good thing as you can see situations others can't." "I meant between the two of us." "Um... ah... Not... sure?..." She gave a small laugh. "You aren't very good with woman aren't you?" "People in general..." "Ok then, you aren't very good with these people then?" She gestured towards herself. I sighed. "Yes..." Sri nodded and placed her hand on the table, palm up. "Well atleast try to." I raised my eyebrow but placed my hand on hers. I felt the void course through me and back to her. It's chilling embrace normally gives me joy and calm, but this void felt different, a strange connection between emotions and power. It felt sad, longing, but quietly so. I pulled my hand away and the feeling stopped. I thought about this quietly as Sri waited patiently. I sighed and placed my hand back on hers, pushing the void back towards her. She blinked and watched the table. She had a confused look on her face as I pulled my hand away. We sat in silence for a while. Our food was brought as we ate. Sri still tried to decipher what I sent as I waited quietly, finishing my meal quickly. She got half way through hers before stopping and looking at me. "Is that what you feel?" "I don't know... Then again I doubt the void to lie." She went pretty neutral once again as she nodded. "Alright." I waited for her to finish as we payed for it and walked out. As we exited the shielding, the noises of the City feel upon us once more and there were two obnoxiously loud drunken howls of singing nearby. Sri cringed. "What us that awful noise?" I listened and was able to distinguish one as familiar. "Oh please no..." I trotted over to the nearest bar and walked inside. There singing in drunken time in the middle of the room with several other drunks were Charles and Alfred. They sang along to some tune being played by the speakers above, along with everyone else. Chalres was practically supporting Alfred as the sang along. I walked over. "Charles!" He stopped and looked at me. His core shifted slightly like someone forcing there eyes to stay open. "Ol'..." A hiccup skyrocketed him up and he fell towards me and stopped near my face. "... Buddy!!!..." Alfred still sung but he slowly sank to the table and crumbled like a broken mess. "What are you doing here?!" "Hav... havin... ing... Hav vin... Fun!" Charles said with a terrible slur as another hiccup shot him up in the air. "Come on we are leaving." "Oh... Com come on...! Hav a.. have a taste!!.." Charles zoomed down and was holding a small chip like thing. He tried to jab it into my head. "N.. now... whrr... whres... it go?.." "No thank you." I jerked it from his grip and grabbed him. It took him an entire minute as I placed the chip back on the bar and started to leave before he responded. "Hey... thats..." Another hiccup made my arm jump sightly. "... mine..." "Not anymore." Sri walked in and glared at Alfred. She gathered him up as he continued to fall apart. "Alfred get up now." "... no... i... hvn... fun..." He said drunkenly. Sri held him within her clutched hands and followed me back to the Tower. The two Ghost continued to sing slightly in drunken time as we made it back to the barracks. I went with Sri first to her room and nodded. "Sleep well." I said. She just simply nodded and closed the door. I sighed and went back to my own room. I opened the door and placed Charles in the desk. He gently began to lift up and fly around the room slowly. "Wwweeeeeeeeeeeeee." I watched him for a bit before willing my armor off and getting ready for bed. Whenever Charles floated near me, I would simply tap him into another direction and he would continue to float off like an asteroid in space. I lied down in bed and closed my eyes. Choices were never an easy thing to make and I didn't know if I made the right one. I fell asleep to the gently sound of Charles saying "Weee." https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/174023472/0/0 link to 20.6 https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/175199137/0/0 link to chapter 21